


Guy Love: Bromance and the Bridge Between Homophobia and Homoeroticism

by orphan_account



Category: Castle, New Girl, Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck, Psych, Sherlock (TV), Supernatural, The Big Bang Theory (TV), The Office (US)
Genre: Bromance, Essays, Gen, Homoeroticism, Homophobia, Incest, M/M, Shipping, canon in question, ep: Everybody Hates Hitler, ep: Goodbye Stranger, ep: Lazarus Rising, ep: Models, ep: Pilot, ep: Point of No Return, ep: Reading is Fundamental, ep: The Maternal Capacitance, ep: The Monster at the End of this Book, ep: The Third Man, ep: Tinfinity, ep: Two Minutes to Midnight
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-06
Updated: 2013-05-06
Packaged: 2017-12-10 13:23:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/786501
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An essay I wrote for my Media Diversity class on bromance and homoeroticism. Since this is the kind of thing I'd like to study, this is how I'm keeping track.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Guy Love: Bromance and the Bridge Between Homophobia and Homoeroticism

In many Prime Time television shows of late, it is difficult if not impossible to avoid the bromance scenario which has become so popular thanks to internet culture. All network stations are guilty of having at least one show with a bromance –  _Castle_ ’s (ABC) Kevin Ryan and Javier Esposito,  _The Office_ ’s (NBC) Dwight Schrute and Michael Scott,  _The Big Bang Theory_ ’s (CBS) has Howard Wolowitz and Rajesh Koothrappali,  _New Girl_ ’s (Fox) Schmidt and Nick Miller. My initial question might have been if these bromances act as replacements for actual homosexual characters and relationships that network stations are too afraid to show; however, not only do gay characters and couples appear on network television (Kurt and Blaine from Fox’s  _Glee_ ), but cable stations and non-American programming shown on American stations (such as PBS) contain bromances as well, such as Shawn Spencer and Burton Guster from USA’s  _Psych_  and Sherlock Holmes and John Watson from the PBS-run  _Sherlock_ , respectively. So my question instead, from an intersectional angle of gender and sexuality, is whether these bromances are formulated using homophobia or homoeroticism. 

It is relatively irrefutable that, in today’s society, homophobia is so rampant that men feel the need to perform gender through violence and that male friendships are strained to the point of hostility. In the  _New Girl_  episode “Tinfinity,” Schmidt and Nick are celebrating their tenth year as roommates when Schmidt reveals he has no confidence in Nick’s ability to follow through with a task. The hostility and hurt feelings are reversed in the earlier episode “Models,” wherein Nick is disturbed that Schmidt has bought him a cookie for no other reason than that he was “thinking about [him].” This prompts Nick to yell at Schmidt for his socially unacceptable behavior, explaining that of course he does not think about Schmidt because “we’re grown men.” Female roommate Jess even asks Nick how he became friends with Schmidt when the two appear to have nothing in common and a flashback reveals that the two have never had a particularly amiable friendship, with Nick throwing things at Schmidt, mocking him, and calling him weird. Nick tells just that “one day, he was just there.”

Had these interactions occurred between two female characters, their relationship would probably be labeled as frenemies (a combination of friends and enemies), and the idea that one girl would not naturally think of the other would be strange as affection is expected in female friendships. In comparison, affection between two men is almost always read as gay. This is occasionally played for laughs, as in  _The Big Bang Theory_  where best friends Howard and Raj are referred to as being in an “Ersatz homosexual marriage” by the mother of one protagonist (“The Maternal Capacitance”), although the insinuations have lessened with time and deeper characterization. For the British-made and PBS-run  _Sherlock_ , however, the jokes and innuendo surrounding Sherlock and John’s relationship are made several times an episode and, due to the writers’ reassurances that the characters are not gay, come off as homophobic. The healthiest male friendship on television today is that between Shawn and Gus on USA’s  _Psych_. The two characters, having known each other from childhood, are secure enough in their heterosexuality and masculinity that they feel no need to demonstrate it with violence or homophobia. The other characters with whom they frequently interact rarely if ever question the nature of their relationship, and their partnership is one that does not rely on hero-worship or a George and Lenny ( _Of Mice and Men_ ) type dynamic wherein one party is smaller, smarter, and reluctantly caring while the other is big, stupid, and loving.  _Psych_  has the added intersectional bonus of non-white stars (James Roday, who plays Shawn, is Hispanic; Dulé Hill, who plays Gus, is Jamaican-American).

In terms of internet fandoms, however, the current Prime Time show whose bromances frequently cross the line into homoeroticism is CW’s  _Supernatural_. The horror-fantasy show which carried over some writers from  _The X-Files_  has developed an internet cult following, with legions of female fans who see romantic and sexual tension between the shows two leads, Sam and Dean Winchester – which takes the term bromance quite literally, as the two characters are brothers. The writers of the show even alluded to their knowledge of the popular pairing (dubbed ‘wincest’ by fans) by introducing a writer character who inadvertently turned their lives into works of literature with its own cult following and “slash fans – as in Sam slash Dean,” not unlike the show itself (“The Monster at the End of This Book”). Although the brothers are clearly disgusted at the idea that anybody imagines them as lovers, the in- and out-of-show fangirls are not the only people who see their tension. Angels, demons, various supernatural and non-supernatural beings either frequently mistake them for a gay couple or declare that there is some truth to the incestuous link their viewers see. One character even reports them as being “psychotically, irrationally, erotically codependent on each other” to, of all people, their long-lost half-brother (“Point of No Return”). The tendency for people to mistake them as a romantic couple begin early in season one and continue into the current season eight.

Wincest is far from being the only borderline homoerotic bromance on the show, however; other popular male/male pairings include Crobby (the demon Crowley and the show’s father figure, Bobby), Samifer (Sam and fallen angel Lucifer), Sabriel (Sam and archangel-turned-trickester Gabriel), Sastiel (Sam and the angel Castiel), Wincestiel (the threesome of Sam, Dean, and Castiel), Wingcest (for any pairing between two angels), and Destiel (Dean and Castiel), which has arguably become more popular than Wincest. Most if not all of these pairings could be argued to exist in the canon of the show. Wincest, Destiel and Wincestiel have all been confirmed, somewhat jokingly and somewhat serious, by the show’s writers and actors.

Outside of Wincest, the two pairings most commonly referenced in the show are Crobby and Destiel. In the episode “Two Minutes to Midnight,” Sam asks Bobby if he kissed Crowley when sealing his deal with the demon. Bobby initially denies it, as though the very idea is ludicrous, only to have Crowley present the group with a picture. When Bobby asks “Why’d you take a picture?” Crowley replies with a question of his own: “Why’d you have to use tongue?”

Fans of the show have been pairing Dean with Castiel since the latter’s first appearance in the season four opener “Lazarus Rising.” While the two started out with a slightly hostile relationship, they worked their way toward an intimate friendship defined by intense gazing and a complete lack of personal space. Several characters remark on their closeness, either intentionally employing a romantic angle – such as in “Survival of the Fittest,” where Dean asks a potential love interest for Castiel what’s wrong with him and she replies, “Ask him. He was your boyfriend first” – or unintentionally implying that the two are in love – such as in “Reading is Fundamental,” wherein a distraught angel tells Dean, “When Castiel first laid a hand on you in Hell, he was lost.” The characters themselves add to the tension, with Castiel remarking that he and Dean “do share a more profound bond” (“The Third Man”)  and Dean, whose usual rule is “no chick flick moments” (“Pilot”), pleadingly tells Castiel that he needs him (“Goodbye Stranger”).

Although the incest angle is still played for laughs, it is not used as frequently as it used to be. Dean does not even react to implications that he and Castiel are romantically linked, and Castiel seems to lack a real understanding of human relationships. All of the characters have had opportunities to assert their heterosexuality, but the characters do so within the realm of sexual orientation as opposed to gender. Dean increasingly seems to be demonstrating bisexuality. He has now been hit on and received well – even flattered into clumsiness – by another man (“Everybody Hates Hitler”).  _Supernatural_  appears to be changing to follow in the footsteps of  _Psych_  in terms of defining male affection as normative depending on personality, and defining sexuality by preference as opposed to perceived effeminate behavior.


End file.
